How Do You Do It?

Below is a question I received a few days ago
that I would like to answer publicly.

I'd like to know
how you've done it~
raised your children so well,
organized your house so well, etc.
It's really a battle for me!
And blog too! How do you do it?!

It is not my desire or intention
to give the appearance
that I have everything together
and that I do not fall short
in areas of my life...
I, most assuredly,
do not have everything together
and I, certainly, have fallen short
and continue to do so
in areas of my life.
(In fact, some of that 'evidence'
is 'hidden' throughout photos that I post.)

However, I must confess that I do not share
all of my downfalls, messes, trials, failures, etc...
I share those with my Heavenly Father
and seek Him, in a humble and teachable spirit,
to grow me in these areas and others
to make me more like His Son.

I desire to share and praise Him for
the blessings and lessons in my life,
how He shows me
the simplistic Truths of His promises,
and what He has done and is doing in me,
in our marriage, and in the lives
and hearts of our children.
I belive those things truly honor
and give glory to the Lord,
where it belongs.
I am what I am because of Him.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am:
and his grace which was bestowed upon me
was not in vain;
but I laboured more abundantly than they all:
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
~ 1 Corinthians 15:10


I have not arrived.
The Lord continues to work on me.
I have days when I wonder
"what has gotten into the children".
I have days when I wonder
if my home will stay clean
for even 1 hour after we clean it.
I have days when I had no idea
I was at the computer that long.
I have days when I notice
that all of the clean socks
have 'disappeared'.
I have days (often) when I can't
seem to find that piece of paper
I had written something important on.
I have days when my sink
has dirty dishes in it (along with the dishwasher!).
I have days that the children
don't seem to be getting along so well.
I have times when I read books,
get ideas, get motivated,
yet procrastinate in applying those ideas.

But I cannot and choose not
to dwell on those things.
What keeps me going
is keeping my eyes fixed on Him,
repenting and confessing my failures,
dying daily to myself, asking the Lord
to continue teaching me and changing me,
seeking Him and His ways in His Word,
and then pressing on.
I love how Paul,
through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said:
"Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth
unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
~ Philippians 3:13-14


My life has different seasons.
"To every thing there is a season"
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1a
Different things work in those different seasons.
As I am seeking Him with my whole heart,
He has a way of showing me
what my priorities are
and guides me in the 'logistics'
of how to redeem the time He has given.
"Walk in wisdom
toward them that are without,
redeeming the time" ~ Colossians 4:5

Whatever each season brings
I have joy in knowing
that He has placed me in each one.
I have peace that He is in control.
And I can have confidence,
knowing that He is growing me
and working in me,
changing me more like His Son...
"Being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"
~ Philippians 1:6

"And we know that all things
work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called
according to his purpose....
to be conformed
to the image of his Son"
~ Romans 8:28, 29


I have far from 'arrived'.
As the children's song says,
"He's still workin' on me".

So how do I do it?
How do any of us do it?

"But by the grace of God
I am what I am:
and his grace
which was bestowed upon me
was not in vain;
but I laboured
more abundantly than they all:
yet not I,
but the grace of God
which was with me."
~ 1 Corinthians 15:10


Any accomplishments, successes,
victories, praise, etc...
belong solely to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only in Him do we have victory in anything.

"But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ."
~ 1 Corinthians 15:57